Each stage of the race begins in the Shutdown where the previous stage finished. The equipment exactly leaves 12 hours after their arrival, in the same order and time interval in which they arrived.

When an equipment starts off gives an envelope to him that contains the first part of its Information of route (track) and the money that needs for the stage.

The equipment goes of track in track, from place to place, sometimes traveling great distances between each destiny. By the way they will find a Deflection and a Obstacle. Only there is one of these in each stage of the race, but IT DOES NOT EXIST LIMIT for the number of Markers of Route or other tasks that can find in the passage.

In the end, the equipment will be reported in the Shutdown and will wait for 12 hours before following. If one is a eliminatory Shutdown, the last equipment in arriving is disqualified of the race. If it were not it, all the equipment will remain in the race until the next eliminatory Shutdown.

Sometimes, one asks for the equipment to them that carries out a task that is neither a “Deflection” nor a “Obstacle”. These tasks almost always take place outside the habitual locations of the “Markers of Route”, and both members of the equipment must realise them to be able to receive their next track. Generally these Tasks Between Markers of Route are not very difficult, although they cause that to obtain the next track he is more interesting, because forces the equipment “to gain

“deflection” more easily is described like a “bifurcation in the way”. When the equipment arrives at a “Deflection”, a track is given to them forces that them to decide between two tasks, one of which must be realised in its totality before the equipment receives the next track. To each one of the it will take them tasks to the same place (or it will give the same information them), although each of them also must have negative and positive aspects. For example, an election could require that the equipment travels a short distance in bicycle, whereas the other could require that they travel a distance much more releases but in a sport car. The equipment will have to evaluate the pros and the cons of each election and to decide by themselves what way wishes to take. Because this game is a race, the equipment will have to evaluate the exigencies of a task against their abilities (or fears) personal, and to try to decide which task thinks that they can complete with greater rapidity.

The “deflections” better designed offer to the equipment options to them that they also pretend to be balanced, although in fact is not thus. If an election is clearly more advantageous, all the equipment would choose to realise it, making the episode less interesting.

If an equipment chooses one of the tasks of “Deflection” and soon it does not manage to complete it for any reason, the equipment can be decided to carry out the other task of “Deflection”. Nevertheless, if an equipment, for whatever reason, suitably does not complete one of the tasks of “Deflection” in its totality, it will receive a penalty of time of 24 hours. In this case, the time penalty is added at the time of Exit of the equipment for the following stage of the race. In almost all the cases, this penalty will cause that the equipment is eliminated.

Only there is a “Deflection” in each stage of the race.

Each equipment is formed of two people who already maintain a relation special. No equipment trains strangers, since the tension that the situations of the race generate between companions who know themselves very well becomes the focal point of the series. The equipment can be compound of good friendly, roommates, fellow workers, pairs of fianc2es, marriages, relatives, etc. In addition, it is which the equipment represents a variety of ages, races and sorts. The section of Casting includes more on the equipment.

Sometimes, one asks for the equipment to them that carries out a task that is neither a “Deflection” nor a “Obstacle”. These tasks almost always take place outside the habitual locations of the “Markers of Route”, and both members of the equipment must realise them to be able to receive their next track. Generally these Tasks Between Markers of Route are not very difficult, although they cause that to obtain the next track he is more interesting, because forces the equipment “to gain it”.

According to a report we received today, Colombia will be represented in The Amazing Race by a married couple and a homo***ual couple. The competitors, including the Colombians, will be starting the race in Argentina any day now. The racers, plus a letter from production to obtain 8 visas needed around Latin America. Without a doubt, the Colombians would have the most trouble with the visas. In a competition where time is of the essence, one could say that Colombians are put at a disadvantage because it takes longer to get through an airport. Yet all these issues will be considered within the rules of the competition so no racer would have a distinct advantage or disadvantage. [Thank you to our correspondent.]

Sue Gribbins Whelan The contestants were here in Mexico last week doing something down by the beach. I didn't get to go because it was raining but it would have been neat to have seen them. They were at the Blue Parrot. 2 hours ago

So, the BladeGun blog posted a new entry, but it doesn't say much about the race itself, it talks mostly bureaucracy between Disney and Discovery Channel, but at the very end it promises to dedicate the next post to introduce the host and the teams!

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My cordial greetings to all the followers of this humble blog. Another week has passed, and it's a pleasure talking to you again. The moment has come to complete the second and last part of the post on the Mexican leg and thus of the full story behind the pre-production of The Amazing Race. And in this country in particular, it's a rather long story... It was one of the main countries designated as a leg, the first to be cancelled, and it was only at the last moment that it was confirmed by Disney as the final destination of the race. Pretty confusing, no? Well... shall we start?

The saying goes, "There's a show behind the show." Here there is another huge reality show behind the one called "The Amazing Race". The difference is that this whole other reality show has, as its main characters, the producers in each of the countries, while Mr Disney tightens the budget more and more, and a global pandemic threatens to shut down the entire project. Ahh... You have no idea what happened! Bah, obviously I don't know all the details either, until today I'm surprised that Mexico made it onto the race after being cancelled by the same Discovery Channel just a month ago!

Let's start from the beginning... The original date of the flag-off was planned for 4 May in Buenos Aires, while the finish line was set in Puerto Iguazu for 27 May. Still following me? And in the blink of an eye, things changed! I didn't know for sure how many legs there were going to be, it was a whole new project due to the possible cancellation of parts of the race. I could hardly believe that the project was actually going to be completely cancelled just like that, all because of the swine flu! Because of the outbreak, Mexico was automatically cancelled as a destination on TAR, both in the Latin American version and the American version, as far as I understand.

And how then did the finale turn out to be in Mexico, where the final leg took place, the winners were crowned and the post-production is going on? As you already know Discovery holds the rights to the show, but still it is only a co-producer. Disney has a huge stake; they were the ones who hire the producers at RGB Entertainment, and in the end they are the ones distributing the show. And for this, against all odds, they ordered (yes, ordered) that the final take place in Mexico; it was too big a market to lose. Therefore, only Discovery [did he mean Disney?] could have predicted the final course of events.

I was in doubt when I heard the news, as many of you are. Then I discovered the truth behind everything! There is absolutely no clause in the contracts of the contestants nor those of the insurance companies that covers damage from diseases such as the swine flu. And the contesants are clearly exposed to the flu by taking part in the race, since in almost all the countries in Latin America suspected cases crop up day after day.

Discovering, this things started to make sense... Followers of the BladeGun Group, since I confide in you I can share with you this catastrophic scenario: in the case that the teams get infected with swine flu, the legal responsibility lies directly with Discovery. And word on the corridors of RBG Entertainment was that it wouldn't be nice to have racers running around Mexico with facemasks on. Stragely, while the indefinite delay put everything at risk, it eventually turned to help production. The partial cancellation involved a revision of all the tasks, timings, legs etc. To have started as planned on 4 May would have meant lots of mistakes; many of the tasks were planned only with a starting time but no estimated end time, amongst other things vital to production coordination.

On the other hand, the racers were already in their hotels at Buenos Aires, Argentina, ready to start the race having being sequestered for two weeks. Every one of them was sent back to his home country. And the poor Mexicans! It was terrible, a huge pity that they had to go home. It's devastating! You have no idea the effort it takes to enter a country when all the newspapers of the world are covering the flu, and to have to go through that after travelling for an entire day and sleeping in an airport! To make a comparison, that's exactly the same thing for a Taliban or an Arab travelling a few years back, everyone would think he was going to crash the plane! Paranoia doesn't change in people, and today being a Mexican means that no matter which part of the world you go to, you'd be seen with fear; you'd be isolated from the entire office as if you've got the plague. It's terrible, but that's how the world is.

If the two Mexican teams were allowed in the competition they'd lose a whole day in each new leg. So the solution was simple: you'd have to take out the Mexican teams and the Mexican legs, change the location for the finale, and get new visas for travel. A senior management meeting was held on Friday, 1 May. A time-out of one week was taken to assess the situation in Mexico.

The project's estimated date of completion was changed, in view of time-outs that needed to be given in case the epidemic worsened and flights got cancelled. Mexico was moved to the finale so it could still be kept open as an option until the end of the race. The alternative was an unlikely Plan B, Venezuela. Production had only two weeks to create a route and to plan tasks, and that was going to be impossible! The final decision was only to be made at the end... If you asked me, something odd must haved happened for Mexico to get the approval. Yes, the official word is one thing, but I'm sure... here in Argentina, Disney forced Discovery's hand.

But in the end the story has a happy ending. Surely it'd help the development of the international tourist industry in Mexico, now the final destination of TAR:LA. There is a deserved winner and that's all I can tell you so far; that's too much for today. You wanted to know more about TAR:LA? Now you do. This was the longest post I've written so far!

We'll stop here with information pertaining to TAR:LA! The next post will be dedicated to the host of the new season, and the eleven teams participating in the competition. But a reminder! By "next post", I don't know if it means next week, as I'll keep browsing YouTube to see if I can find some other videos, those taken in the various countries or those submitted to casting... I don't know, we'll see what happens in the days to come. It'd be up the next time! We'll see! Until then, fans!

So... TAR:US wanted to make a stop in Mexico for TAR15? And more than one country was cancelled at the onset of the flu?

(At least now I don't sound so stupid standing up to the medical experts like Peach! Delays, re-routing, production concerns trumping medical sense - they all came true! )

« Last Edit: June 22, 2009, 07:53:24 AM by Neobie »

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So... TAR:US wanted to make a stop in Mexico for TAR15? And more than one country was cancelled at the onset of the flu?

Actually, TAR:US had nothing to do with this post. It's just a rant about how they planned to add Mexico to TARLA, but the swine flu changed their plans, causing a massive revision of the race course, basically changing starting and finish lines. Discovery originally cancelled Mexico, but (according to the blogger) Disney put some pressure on including seeing as a vital Market share. About the USA part, it's hear-say.

So: step by step:

Buenos Aires was the original Start LineMexico was includedSwine FluMexico canceled by DiscoveryVenezuela confirmed as a new finish lineMassive schedule changesPuerto Iguaçu new starting lineDisney makes Discovery "un-cancel" Mexico

All the rescheduling and partial canceling was due to a panic attack because of the swine flu outbreak but it allowed better planning of the tasks.

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Mexico was automatically cancelled as a destination on "The Amazing Race" both in the Latin American version as - obviously - in the US version, from what I understand.

I guess the original route was what we have now, but arranged in an order with more geographical sense? Argentina > Chile > Peru > Colombia > Panama > Mexico > Caribbean > Brazil > Argentina? Well now we know Venezuela isn't on this race...

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8 Teams Of 2 Were In Lima, Peru In June, 3rd. According To The Article, Teams Were From Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Brazil. They Were In The "Faro De La Marina", Miraflores District In Lima, Peru.

Looks like an Hours of Operation bunching, yeah? BladeGun says filming in Brazil lasted until the 1st of June. The article says this is the first task of the leg (or maybe country), on the 3rd. Where did the extra time go?

*singing* We are looking for blue clues!

Looks like 4 M/M, 2 M/F and 2 F/F. The last M/F team seems to have missed the bunching altogether, did they just get in? It's 16km from the airport to the lighthouse. Could we find out what time the lighthouse usually opens?

ETA: Big guys from Colombia. Wait...

Quote from: Neobie

2. Colombia: Married couple3. Colombia: Homo***ual couple

What?

« Last Edit: July 03, 2009, 06:52:29 AM by Neobie »

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